The Daughter of the Sea
by amyownfie
Summary: Hermione had always been an intelligent child, when she felt her magic begin to surface, she hid it deep within herself. She'd kept her magic beautifully hidden, she never let even an ounce of her power out of the box she'd created. Whatever she was, it wasn't safe for her to be it. "Beware Hermione." Her father would say. "Beware the dangers this world created."


_AN- This was inspired by the Battle for Azeroth song, Warbringers: Jaina. I had this idea months ago when I first heard it but have only now had time to write it. Over that time it's become something almost completely different but I'm excited to share it with you._

**The Daughter of the Sea**

The war had been going on for years. Muggles versus Wizards. It had made blood purity simultaneously better and worse. There was no more question of if magic made you a Wizard, Muggleborns brought into their ranks when parents and friends turned on them, they were brought into the magical world and named family. But Muggles were regarded as worse than scum.

Wizards hadn't exposed themselves, they hadn't started another war. Society had been progressing, they'd begun embracing their unique and oh so typical situation with the Muggles and they had moved past Grindelwald's provocations and temptations to take over. Voldemort had been little but a nuisance, few followed him and fewer wanted to risk a war with the Muggles. But when the Muggles eventually found them, that fateful night of October 31st 1981, everything was ripped apart. Despite assurances that the Wizarding world was no threat to them, that Voldemort was alone in his beliefs and they'd been fighting him to protect the Muggle world, the Muggles attacked.

Wizards living in Muggle towns and cities were rounded up, and those who didn't manage to escape were executed. They weren't burned at the stake however, they faced a firing squad every night at sundown. Wizarding towns were raided but most had already escaped. They had few safe havens, the ministry sealed off beneath London, all Muggles barred entry, Hogwarts, and allies in other countries took in refugees where they could, in their own schools and government buildings. There were no more disputes over borders, not for Wizards at least, for they didn't have borders anymore. Some Muggle countries offered refuge to Wizards, those small island countries that had always lived harmoniously with magic, there were few, but they were there.

Australia had been their strongest ally. New Zealand had preferred remaining more neutral in the matter, though they didn't hesitate to secretly send food to their neighbour when the war truly began. Japan too had allied with Wizards, though their own magical numbers were few. But it didn't matter what small allies they had, when America, Britain, France, Germany, most of the UN had declared all Wizarding kind terrorists and vermin.

With Magicals mostly escaping their hostile homelands, the countries that started the war on magic felt little of its effects as the years went on. In the sleepy London suburb of Hampstead, it was like the war had never started. Two dentists lived there with their only daughter, who they cherished with everything in their being. Mr Granger had been called back into active service, once again a Commander in the Royal Navy. It was the only reason their daughter understood just what was happening in the world, and just why she had to protect herself. She had always been an intelligent child, and even at four years old, when she knew her magic would begin to surface, she hid it deep within herself. She'd seen other children ripped away from their families, seen the old women dragged away on television to know that whatever she was, it wasn't safe for her to be it. "Beware Hermione." Her father would say before he went out to sea. "Beware the dangers this world created. Be safe."

More years went on, her father had become a hero of the war, to the Muggles at least. He'd sunk several ships the Wizards had escaped on, and many more that Australia had sent in their defence. He rose through the ranks, Captain then Commodore, then Rear-Admiral, Vice-Admiral, until he was an Admiral orchestrating every move any ship or submarine made in the Pacific's southern hemisphere. Hermione was eighteen by that time. She'd kept her magic beautifully hidden, contained within herself so tight that none of their mandatory scans revealed her, and she never let even an ounce of her power out of the box she'd created when she was a child. They'd moved to Cornwall at some point in her early teens to that her father could be deployed easier when he needed to. Most of their ships were leaving from allied military ports in Ireland, but the south-west of England had too become one big harbour. They lived in a beautiful home on the seaside, a cottage that had been gifted to her father, seized from a magical family.

Hermione had been entered into mandatory military training on September 1st 1997, though her father had made certain she be trained to join the Navy. She'd been doing well, top of her class as she always had been. Her personal life suffered from it, but nobody suspected their top student of secretly being a Wizard. "Beware Hermione." He would say lovingly, sharing stories from her childhood and her training with his colleagues. "If the war keeps going on, my Hermione will be the one to end it."

She felt guilt ripping into her every day, the nagging feeling that she was betraying her very being, which wasn't untrue. She'd been released for three weeks leave on April 18th, seven days before her father would once again board a ship and sail to the other side of the world. "Beware Hermione." He'd said before he left, a good luck charm from the last 17 years of war. He'd always returned, and he always would so long as he said those words.

On the day of May 2nd 1998, Hermione stood at the edge of the sand, waiting with bated breath for word from her father. They'd finally gathered the resources and information to assault Adelaide. It was better protected by natural land masses than Sydney or Perth had been, and the wards Wizards had put around it and the nearby ocean made it almost impossible to reach, until their mole. They were sure of their success, confident in their ability to wipe out the Wizards' safe haven as it had come to be known. Hermione wasn't confident, nor was she excited to see the inevitable news footage of another burning city, or another sea awash with debris and oil and bodies. She loved her father, but she also knew if Muggles won the war, she'd always have to look over her shoulder.

The radio was on in the cottage, tuned in to listen to the military chatter as they coordinated their strike. She could hear her father frequently, reporting the status of his ships and his few pilots. They went on for hours, numbers on both sides dwindling, night eventually beginning to fall on the Cornish coast. That was when the tide turned sour for the Muggles. Something had bolstered the Wizards' resolve and they'd surged again at the Muggle forces, ripping through the squadrons of fighters that had been raining destruction down on them.

"There are only three ships left." Her father yelled over the radio. "We're going to be wiped out."

Hermione couldn't move as she watched the sea swell before her, growing more and more violent as a storm blew in from the horizon, it was still miles off, but it was coming fast.

"She doesn't even know, we kept it from her all of these years." He said sadly, almost whimpering over the airwaves, barely any other voices speaking as men shouted their deaths. She didn't know if anyone was listening anymore, but the dread in her stomach grew and she desperately hoped she was the only one. "She never showed it, I think their evolution is turning on them. She has so much magic boiling inside of her, locked up so tight it might never get free. I hid it from everyone, all these years. But I can't die without at least saying out loud. Hermione is the most powerful Wizard I have ever encountered and she has the potential for so much destruction." Hermione felt like she was going to vomit. In what could be his last words, her father had betrayed her. "If her magic ever gets loose it will be the death of us all. Beware Hermione, don't unlock that door."

"Admiral Granger! The ground troops are retreating, get your fleet back!" A voice crackled. The Admiral of the Fleet, most likely tucked in a bunker somewhere in America. "You will not die out there, do you hear me." Hermione could feel tears running down her cheeks. She was a dead woman.

"It's too late." Her father sighed. "Beware Hermione, she could be our destruction. Beware Hermione." He took in a jagged breath and began screaming over the radio. "Beware of my daughter! Beware Hermione! Beware Herm-"

Hermione could feel her body sprinting toward the water, an arm outstretched as if she could pull her father back to her. Arms wrapped around her waist, trying to pull her back as her calves were submerged by the angry ocean roaring in. She was screaming, thrashing at the arms trying to contain her as another pair grabbed the arm that was pushing against her captor. She could hear more footfalls over the sand, growing ever closer.

"Father!" She yelled into the air as she was dragged backward, unable to fight against the multiple bodies clawing at her. "No! Come back to me!" She could feel a swelling within her, rising and falling with the ever quickening surf. "Come back!"

In a flash of blinding light the hands pulling at her were gone, blown back as if in an explosion. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut, raising the outstretched arm in a futile attempt to shield her eyes. When it subsided she looked back, seeing the men who had protected her for years, who had stopped kidnapping and assassination attempts, strewn across the sand. Rain began to fall as the storm reached them, soaking everything in sight.

Hermione turned her sight back to the ocean, stepping hesitantly toward it. There was a faint glow beneath its tumultuous surface, a small speck that was rising from the depths. As it grew closer the glow grew ever bigger and brighter, before eventually breaking the surface.

It was a man in uniform, though his body was ruined. Despite being made of pure light, he appeared to be ever bleeding from a hole in his side, more blood gushing from wounds all across his body. It fell and became water, rejoining the ocean it was borne from. The man grew closer, and even underneath the damage, she could recognise him, his face twisted in everlasting pain. "Be...ware..." He mumbled, calling a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning across the sky. "Bew...are..."

He raised a hand as he stumbled closer to Hermione. She backed away, though with another crack and flash he was before her, his ghostly hand passing through her cheek as he attempted to touch her. Her skin turned ice cold where he touched her, sending a shiver down her spine. "Be...ware..." He panted, his expression becoming angry and disgusted.

"Be...ware... Hermione."


End file.
